1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector assembly, and more particularly to a board-to-board connector assembly that has a female connector and a male connector. The female connector is capable of locking and preventing the male connector from being inadvertently loosened or detached from the female connector.
2. Description of Related Art
Board-to-board connectors are commonly applied to electronic devices and are mounted on printed circuit boards (PCB). For example, board-to-board connectors are employed between a motherboard and an expansion card so that the motherboard is able to acquire additional functions through different expansion cards. The board-to-board connectors also facilitate replacement and maintenance of expansion cards.
Conventional board-to-board connectors are made as a couple that includes a female connector and a male connector matching the female connector. The female and male connectors are mounted in different PCBs and detachably engage each other by press-fitting manners to prevent inadvertent detachment from each other.
However, after repeated engagements and disengagements, the press-fitting effect between the female and male connector is weakened due to material fatigue or structural deformation. Furthermore, no pull-proof locking mechanism is provided between the male and female connectors so that when one of the PCBs on which the male connector is mounted is inadvertently pulled, the male connector may disengage from the female connector.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a board-to-board connector assembly to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.